Sepalcure: Feeling That I Know So Well
Saturday, February 20th, 2010Something soulful for the weekend…
Forthcoming on Hotflush Recordings I believe, Travis (Machinedrum/Tstewart) and Praveen team up as Sepalcure. Accompanied here by time lapse footage of Sougwen doing her thing with pen and paper…
“Sepalcure’s combination of love for bass and 90s house acapellas is the culmination of a cathartic two week collaboration between Machinedrum and Praveen. Their mix of tribal dub, house and two step beats works equally well for both late nights in the club and rainy, introspective nights at home. Detroit techno chords cut through wooden beats, neon synths and dubbed out atmospherics. Future lovestep.”
Looking forward to the full release from these guys soon.
Sougwen is a featured contributor in Capsule 01
Nest: Retold (Serein, 2010)
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010Last week saw the release of Retold, the debut LP from Nest. I’ve been sitting on this for a while now and it’s great to finally be posting the info and sample tracks below.
From the Serein website…
“‘Retold’ is an apt title for this body of work, at times light and serene, other times dark, brooding and sinister – Nest are expert storytellers. Taking cues from film soundtracks and contemporary classical music, the story is woven using a myriad of instrumentation. Dulcet piano tones are backed by string and horn arrangements, unidentifiable plucked instruments and the sound of the Welsh harp; often heavily processed, Retold is an album that has as much in common with experimental electronic music as it does with modern classical composition.”
“Nest is the collaborative project of Otto Totland and Huw Roberts. The first six tracks on this album were originally released in 2007 on the eponymously titled Nest EP; they are presented here again having been remastered alongside five new pieces composed in 2009. A revised edition of the track ‘Cad Goddeu’ was created especially for this release.”
Huw has been a good friend for a number of years now. Along with a handful of others who populate the contact list of my chat client on a daily basis, he’s the closest thing I have to any real work colleagues right now. Always on hand for discussion and feedback, his consistent high standards and objectivity are a real asset when I’m stuck procrastinating on a project that’s not progressing as I’d like it too.
You may remember seeing my original post on this blog when the Nest EP was released back in 2007. Huw had played me material he’d worked on previously but when it arrived back then the EP really blew me away and became an all time favourite that I’d go back to again and again. It’s one of those rare gems that’s so immediately accessible but also manages to reveal more depth with every listen.
Huw also runs the Serein label and when he explained his plans to make the transition from a back catalogue of digital mp3s to manufacturing and distributing physical product my first thought was how much I wanted a well crafted Nest release and in this regard ‘Retold’ delivers on every level.
An update to something with which you already have a strong relationship is often a cause for concern but the results here are very welcome. The new material sits beautifully alongside remastered tracks from the original EP adding new layers of depth and fidelity. I’m won’t say anything more about the music itself, you have the sample tracks above for that.
I’ve taken a batch from Huw that are available direct from our new online shop and although things may seem a little quiet around here from the outside, I’m working hard to get Multilink moving again at a proper pace. Purchasing products here is a great way you can help speed up the process and support the artists behind each project.
Buy Nest ‘Retold’ from the Multilink online shop (£7.99)
S001: LMS – Disengage
Saturday, September 12th, 2009After much procrastination, I’m pleased to finally be posting the first installment of our mix series, Slide. Mixtapes have been an obsession of mine for about as long as I can remember. I have this ongoing fascination with the way we interpret various media… how no two individuals have the exact same take on a particular project and how these unique relationships influence our sense of involvement.
With a well considered mixtape, tracks can be placed in certain contexts and you often end up hearing something familiar in a new light. There’s a lot to be gleaned about the person putting the mix together too, the variety of tracks and moods and the type of transitions between them all say something about that individuals relationship with the ideas they’re using.
So the concept is simple, I’ve got together a pile of mixes from friends and associates and with their permission I’ll be posting them at intervals here on the blog via soundcloud. Over time we should rack up an interesting archive from the past present and future. Enough introductory rambling now, on to the first installment…
I’m starting the series with a mix of my own from 2003 which may seem a little self indulgent though there is a specific reason for it too. Multilink wasn’t originally conceived as a magazine, it basically started life as a desire to get involved with creative people and projects of as wide a variety as possible. We stumbled into the idea of a pdf mag after Steve showed me Bloodwars and it seemed like something that between us we could get moving pretty quickly, so that’s what we did. With no experience of any conventional magazine editorial process, my plan was to approach the first issue as a mixtape only made with people and projects as opposed to 12″s and LPs and that’s basically what I’ve stuck with for all subsequent issues since.
The significance of starting our series with the Disengage mix is that it was planned and recorded during the same period Steve and I put together issue #01 of multilink. So as different as the end formats may be, I’ve always felt they shared a similar process in regards to selection and assembly.
I plan to avoid describing the content of each mix, opting instead for a little background info each time. However, if you do require serving suggestions then this one is probably well suited to long journeys or extended sessions of lazy leisure.
Download the mp3 via the arrow on the Soundcloud player. Larger front/back artwork and track listing can be downloaded here.
High Tech Soul Documentary
Friday, August 21st, 2009I’ve just been revisiting the DVD of this 2006 documentary, available to watch online via youtube.
This is to some extent a compressed interpretation of Dan Sicko’s book, Techno Rebels which comes highly recommend if you’re into the subject matter (a revised edition of which is apparently in development although the last update on that appears to have been in April).
Techno and it’s early roots in Detroit are the focus here. Unlike Sicko’s book which I remember as relatively reserved in it’s accounts, this initially suffers a little from the barrage of overwhelming ego’s on parade. There’s some pretty bold and potentially quite questionable statements being thrown around regarding certain individuals views on what techno is and who’s ultimately responsible for it, the kind of conclusions I would prefer to draw later for myself as opposed to being fed as an introduction. Don’t let this put you off though as it’s by no means a deal breaker and easily explained as an inevitable consequence of the level of passion involved.
It’s an informative story on a number of levels. A big highlight for me being the inclusion of academic Jerry Herron with his accounts of the city’s social and economic history of the last 50 years and it’s role in shaping the circumstances and environment in which all this could manifest.
If you’re not a fan of techno I would still suggest you give this a go. You may be pleasantly surprised and if it leads you onto the book, there’s a whole other level of in-depth and worthwhile material to be explored there in regards to creative drive and progression in general.
From Plexifilm…
“HIGH TECH SOUL is the first documentary to tackle the deep roots of techno music alongside the cultural history of Detroit, its birthplace. From the race riots of 1967 to the underground party scene of the late 1980s, Detroit’s economic downturn didn’t stop the invention of a new kind of music that brought international attention to its producers and their hometown.
Featuring in-depth interviews with many of the world’s best exponents of the artform, High Tech Soul focuses on the creators of the genre — Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson — and looks at the relationships and personal struggles behind the music. Artists like Richie Hawtin, Jeff Mills, Carl Craig, Eddie Fowlkes and a host of others explain why techno, with its abrasive tones and resonating basslines, could not have come from anywhere but Detroit.”
Klic: mix and E.S.T edit
Thursday, August 6th, 2009Greymatter passed me this mix by Klic (Brighton based Ned Pegler) a while back, when I was trying to get comfortable with the idea of Dubstep as a genre and not just a handful of interesting tracks. I was picking up occasional releases on 3024, Hessle Audio, Applepips, etc that were blowing me away but feeling pretty uninspired by a lot of other stuff kicking about in that area. This mix by Ned was a solid fifty minutes of good stuff and a tight example of the deeper material out there…
Then a few months back Graham came through again, this time on his Unique Uncut label with Klics debut release… a two track digital release with the same depth and restraint that had me hooked on the mix above. I’ve been harassing G about how this needs a vinyl release and with a bit of luck we’ll see some wax turn up in the future but in the meantime if you’re into the mix, you can do a good thing by supporting these guys and picking up a copy online here.
As if that’s not enough to get involved with, how about this slick edit of Esbjörn Svensson Trio?
Use the arrow in the right hand panel of each player to download mp3s of both the mix and the E.S.T edit. Respect to Ned for letting me share this stuff with the rest of you and big thanks to Greymatter too for putting me in the loop.
